Wanaka plays host to many travellers from across the world and each couple, family or individual carries with them a unique story of how and why they found their way to this slice of paradise.
For French midwives Noemie Berton and Alexane Guyomard, their journey was more turbulent than most.
The couple has been travelling around the world since 2022, working primarily in French colonies as the shared language made life easier.
They had helped deliver babies in countries such as French Guiana and New Caledonia.
“Sometimes we stayed one year in a country,” Ms Guyomard said.
She said although they had enjoyed moving around, they also liked to build a connection with the places they lived and worked in.
At the beginning of this year, they had been working in New Caledonia, and their plan was to continue working as midwives in the semi-autonomous French territory and travel to other French-related areas.
However, when civil unrest tore through the country after violent conflicts between the French government and indigenous people, the couple lost their jobs.
They decided
to stop working and continue travelling around the Pacific before heading to a few other destinations in Asia.
They made their way to other French colonies, Pacific islands, Australia and eventually landed in New Zealand a month ago.
They started their New Zealand summer adventure in Raglan, discovering the joy of surfing, and continued to chase the perfect wave and water in places such as Gisborne, Kaikoura and Lake Tekapo.
They arrived in Wānaka a couple of days ago in their caravan and planned to stay for another night before heading to Fiordland and then the East Coast.
“It’s been 200 days of no work,” Ms Guyomard said.
After leaving New Zealand, they plan to visit Japan and the Philippines before heading home to France.
Ms Guyomard said they were both in their 30s and it was soon time to “settle down” in their home country, but not before finishing this final, unexpected, grand adventure.
- Rawan Saadi
